The Mix Up
by Amers3
Summary: Ranger keeps replacing Stephanie's cell phone when it gets blown up. Her phone usually looks like his, which can sometimes lead to problems.
1. Chapter 1

Standard Disclaimer Applies: Names, characters, and places are the products of the Janet Evanovich's and the incident is the product of my imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, loving or dead, is entirely coincidental.

The Mix Up

Stephanie woke up to a ringing phone. She stretched her sore muscles, smiling as she remembered her night. Ranger had spent the night, which was happening more and more often. She squinted her eyes open knowing that Ranger had already left for an early meeting.

Steph reached out for the phone as it rang again. The display read 'MOM' and she groaned when she saw it. She debated not answering it, but she quickly dismissed that thought, her mother would know she wasn't busy as she was never up this early.

Well she thought then she might as well get it over with. Someone probably saw Ranger leaving her apartment and tattled to her mother, she felt like she was in grade school with her mother yelling at her. Well not that she still didn't yell now, then it was because Steph had tried to fly and now it was because she wasn't married.

"Hello." She answered groggily, despite all the thinking that was going on so early in the morning.

"Oh." There was a slight pause before they continued. "Hello dear." A motherly voice answered her.

"Ella?" She asked confused. Why would Ella be at her parents' house?

"No dear. But my sister has some explaining to do, as she has never mentioned you."

Steph was so confused she had no clue who she was talking to. Maybe it was some person she had given her card to over the course of her career as a bounty hunter.

"Who is this?" she asked not caring about tact, it was too early for tact.

"Oh. I'm sorry dear. I thought you knew. I'm Maria Manoso."

"Who?" Steph asked in surprised, barely keeping her voice from squeaking.

"Maria Manoso, Ric's mother." She sounded a little putout that Steph hadn't known who she was.

"Uuu..." Was all that came out in the high squeak that she couldn't hold back this time.

"Are you alright dear?"

"How did you get my number?" Steph blurted out.

"Your number?" She asked sounding confused. "I called my son's cell phone."

"Oh no." Steph sat in her bed staring at the little black phone in her hand, the one that Ranger had given her. Ranger had given her, her phone and it looked like he had given her the same type of phone he had. Ranger must have grabbed the wrong one off of the nightstand when he left that morning. "He's not here Mrs. Manoso. He's at Rangeman."

"Ok dear I'll try him there, thank you." Maria hung up without quizzing the poor girl like she wanted the poor thing sounded a tad bit scared. And if her son was at Rangeman that must mean that he had spent the night at her place. It took a lot of trust to get that son of hers to stay anywhere other than that secured apartment that he had. She knew because he used that excuse with her every holiday when she invited him to stay the weekend with them.

It looked like she was going to be calling her son about this girl of his, but first she had to get some more information on the girl that had answered her son's phone. She'd start with a couple of the boys and then she'd call Ella, after that she'd try to have another conversation with the girl herself. Unless Ric answered his phone the next time, she thought. She'd have to hurry.

Maria immediately began dialing and put the phone to her ear.

"Brown." She heard Bobby answer and grinned. One down.

"Is that how you're supposed to answer the phone?" She started in on him. And then she began in on her interrogation, when he paused at realizing who it was. She treated all the boys the same, like they were her own son. She was usually able to use that mother status to her advantage to get them to give up the info that she was looking for, hopefully that still held true.

~ O ~

The meeting was almost coming to a close. Ranger was ready to close up the meeting when his phone rang. He glanced down and saw that it was his mother. He flipped it open, pressed ignore and turned it to silent.

"Santos, Brown, you two are on the skip, Tank set up surveillance on Hudgens, don't let him leave Trenton. Hector, you go over the footage from the break in at the jewelry store see if you can get a picture of the thief. Use the surrounding building's security cameras if you can. If there is nothing else this meeting is over."

Ranger looked down at his watch as he finished up. Stephanie should just be getting up maybe he could surprise her with breakfast.

Ranger flipped open his phone and was surprised to see the display tell him he had seven missed calls. He was even more surprised to see that they were all from his mother. Ranger left the conference room to go find Lester.

"Hey Santos." He called before Lester could step into the elevator. Bobby was already on and started to get off as well, until his phone rang.

"Brown." Bobby answered as the doors slid shut, a terrified look suddenly on his face.

"What's up man?" Lester asked him.

"What's going on with Mama?" There was no way he was calling her back until he knew what she wanted. Last time he hadn't and he ended up not having a ready excuse to get out of the Easter Sunday mass and breakfast ordeal. Something he didn't want to have to do again.

"Nothing I know man, but then Aunt Maria doesn't tell me stuff after I warned you the last time."

Before Ranger could push Lester, his phone rang. He groaned when he saw it was his mother again.

"Just get it over with man," Lester told him give him a slap on the shoulder.

Ranger just nodded and flipped open his phone. "Yo." He answered knowing it irritated his mother. He heard an intake of air as an answer.

"Mama?" He asked as he shut the door to his office for some privacy. Maybe there was something wrong with Mama, why hasn't she said anything?

"What's got your tongue Ellen? Just ask her if it's true." Ellen? He held in a groan, he looked down at the phone. He had Stephanie's phone he realized too late. That was Grandma Mazur's voice in the background that was talking. Mrs. Mazur must have woken her up because Mrs. Plum was all over him.

"What are you doing answering Stephanie's phone?" She demanded. "Where is my daughter? Is another psycho after her? We should call, Joseph, he'll take care of her." She insisted.

"Mrs. Plum, Stephanie is fine maybe you should try calling her at home?" He told her trying anything to end the phone call as quickly as possible.

"I've already tried that young man, and she's not there, I keep getting her answering machine." Ranger frowned at that news, if she was home ignoring her mother she would've turned the machine off.

"Mrs. Plum I've got to go, when I see Steph I'll tell her to call you." As he was hanging up he heard Grandma Mazur demanding that she get to talk to him. He threw the phone his desk when it rang again. He let the call go to voicemail and then he shut it off. How Steph dealt with them he had no clue. He shoved the phone into his pocket, grabbed his keys and went to go find Steph.

~ O ~

Stephanie was on her way to go find Ranger.

She had jumped in the shower as soon as she hung up with Mrs. Manoso. She threw on whatever clothes she found on the floor, but avoided that ones that Ranger had taken off of her last night. She grabbed Ranger's phone and tucked it into her pocket. She was in the elevator when it hit her.

Ranger had her phone. That meant if she called it he would answer. Duh. Come on Stephanie where was this idea earlier, she asked herself, shaking her head.

She quickly dialed her number as she got off of the elevator, hoping she wouldn't have to make the run to Rangeman after all, maybe she could stop at Tasty Pastry instead since she was already up. As she put the phone to her ear, she was already to laugh about this with him, not believing that the infallible Batman had made a mistake.

She was surprised when the phone never rang and it went directly to voice mail. He must still be in his meeting she thought. So she got in her car and drove to Rangeman, when she reached the gate Ranger's phone rang. She peeked at the display hoping that it was her number calling, but the display read 'Tank.'

"Tank." Steph answered. "Is Ranger there? I have to talk to him."

After a brief moment of silence Tank answered. "Umm. Sorry Bomber, he just tore out here."

"Urgh." She answered him hitting her head on her steering wheel.

"Why are you answering the boss's phone?" Tank asked after a long pause.

"He grabbed the wrong one when he left this morning." Steph sighed, knowing that it was going to come back to bite her on the ass.

After a couple of false starts Tank finally got out. "I'll tell him you're looking for him."

"Thanks Tank tell him to call his phone would you?"

"Sure thing Bomber." Tank answered and hung up; she suspected that he was laughing at her.

Steph decided that she might as well head back home, there was no way she was going to work today without her cell phone. Without the numbers she had stored in there she was out of reach of her sources, there was no way she was going to use Ranger's either. But she couldn't turn it off since she was expecting Ranger's call on it. Hopefully it was soon, she didn't want to talk to Mrs. Manos again. Steph sighed thinking she definitely needed a donut.

~ O ~

"Hey Tank," Woody called out to him. "Bomber just pulled up."

Tank saw Steph sitting at the gate waiting for it to rise. Tank signed and pulled his phone out to call Ranger. Tank had no idea where Ranger had gone running off to. But it was unlike him not to say anything unless he was going to Steph's. He had just taken off without saying a word to anyone, but obviously he hadn't gone to Steph's as she was here.

He watched as Steph answered her phone, Tank froze when he heard Steph answer his call. He looked down at his phone it said he had called Ranger.

Woody watched as Tank talked to Steph with a confused look on his face. Then it looked like Tank was doing everything he could not to burst out laughing. He was grinning like crazy, but as soon as he hung up he let loose. His booming laughter brought some of the other guys to the control room.

"What's going on?" Manny asked him.

Woody shrugged his shoulders. "Something Steph told him."

Tank gasped at air and then filled them in. "Any of you hear from Ranger tell him to call his phone immediately." Tank was still chuckling as he went back into his office. In his office he brought up Ranger's tracker. He followed it from Rangeman to Bomber's apartment and now it looked like he was headed towards the Bond's Office. He decided to give Connie a call.

"Bond's Office." She answered in a bored voice.

"Ranger's on his way." He said without greeting.

Used to it Connie replied, "His files are ready."

"Good. And tell him to call his cell phone when he gets there."

Connie was silent, but then agreed to it.

Ranger pulled up not even two minutes later. He got a spot directly in front of the office and shut off his car. He left his keys dangling in the ignition knowing no one would be stupid enough to steal it. He also didn't plan on being there that long, just long enough to see if Steph was inside, he was already pretty sure she wasn't since he didn't see her car anywhere.

He walked in and Connie handed him his files and the phone. Ranger lifted a brow at the phone.

"Tank called to ask you to call your cell phone." Connie explained, hoping for an explanation in return, but she wasn't surprised when he only nodded and dialed.

"Yo." Stephanie answered Ranger's phone when she heard it ring. She recognized the number as Connie's at the Bond's Office, so she thought it would be okay if she answered it. She had already ignored some other calls that had come in on it since she didn't know the numbers, there was no way she was talking to anyone else from Ranger's family.

"Yo yourself." Ranger responded.

"You have my phone."

"I know, Babe. You have to call your mother I had to shut your phone off she was calling so much."

"No wonder you didn't answer my phone. Your mom called you too." She added.

Ranger signed. "I'll be there in ten." He told her and hung up. Ranger handed the phone back to a slack jawed Connie. He then raced his way over to Steph's apartment.

Steph heard the locks click open, announcing Ranger's arrival.

"Babe." He said when he saw her sitting on the couch waiting for him. She smiled and tossed him his phone. He caught it one handed as the other fished her phone out of his packet and tossed it to her.

She cringed when she turned her phone on and saw the amount of missed calls, most of them were from her mother, but the last one was from Connie.

"Looks like I've got a full day ahead of me." She said waving her phone around.

~ O ~

Maria got very little from Bobby and Lester. She even tried 'you're my favorite' with Lester and bribes of flan, but her nephew would give her nothing. Well maybe not nothing she did get a name. Stephanie Plum. The name meant nothing to her. She tried to get a hold of Pierre but his phone had been busy when she had called. Now it was Ella's turn.

"Hello." Her sister answered her phone.

"Ella. How are you?" Maria started off sweetly.

"Oh. Good, good as expected. The boys will be boys, and they do leave a mess after they have been in any room longer than ten minutes."

Ah, the perfect opening, Maria thought excitedly. "From what I hear it's not just the boys you are taking care of."

"That's his business Maria. The rest of your children are married, you have grandchildren, leave the boy alone." Ella told her without any kind of rebuff, just the facts.

"I just want him happy."

"And he is, more so then I have ever seen him."

"That's good, but then…"

"Leave the boys alone, Ranger will tell you when he's ready. Bye Maria." Ella shook her head as she hung up on her sister.

It wasn't until later that Ella was able to talk to Ranger.

She had brought dinner up for him and Steph, Steph was in the bathroom so Ella decided this was her chance.

"I talked to your mother today." She told him as she set the plates on the table.

"She talked to Stephanie today too."

"And she quizzed the guys about her." Ella informed him, though Ranger had guessed that she would when Steph told him she had talked to her.

"You might was to give her a call before she comes here."

"I will thank you Ella."

Stephanie walked into the kitchen already moaning over the food. "Oh Ella it smells so good."

"Enjoy dear," she told her and turned to leave after giving Ranger a pointed look. A look that Steph missed because she was already uncovering the dishes.

They were almost done with dinner when Ranger spoke. "I have to call my mother after dinner."

"I think I will take a nap, I'm stuffed I couldn't eat another bite." Ranger hoped that was true because he couldn't put off calling his mother. And if she did anymore of that moaning that accompanied her eating, neither one of them were going to be doing anything out of the bedroom until tomorrow.

He watched Steph close herself off in his room. He dug his cell out to call his mother, throwing one last look towards his door, wishing he had followed Stephanie.

"Hello." She answered.

"Hola Mama."

"There's my boy, I tried you earlier. We are having a surprise party for Ella and Louis's fortieth anniversary."

"That's fine Mama." Ranger grinned because his mother had called him earlier in the week to discuss that.

"Will you be bringing a date?"

"Oh Mama." He sighed.

"You can't blame me. She sounded nice."

"She is Mama." Ranger told her without telling her anything. Then he heard Steph's phone going off in his bedroom.

"Then why not bring her?"

"I can cover the cost of the party Mama. Let me know where and when." Ranger told her going back to the original reason she called.

"Oh…" She started.

"Don't be bothering her Mama." Ranger headed her off.

"I wouldn't." She defended herself, even though that was exactly what she was thinking.

"Good." Ranger nodded.

"But when do I get to meet her?" She tried again.

Ranger was about to tell her that she was never going to get to meet her, but Steph interrupted him. "Ranger?" She whispered low enough that his mother hadn't her.

"Yeah Babe?" He asked covering the mouthpiece with his hand.

She held up her phone with a cringe. "Mom's demanding you come over for dinner." She gave him a look that screamed that he was busy.

"Is that Stephanie?" His mother asked in his ear.

"Yes it is and no you cannot talk to her. Tell your mom that any day is fine, Babe." He directed the last to Steph, who frowned at him.

"Babe?" His mother questioned her voice getting higher in her excitement.

"I have to go Mama, I'll see you later." Ranger hung up before his mother could over hear anything else.

"Yeah mom, he can't. Not this week maybe next week. Ok? Bye." Steph groaned at him." You were supposed to say no."

"Babe." Ranger grabbed Steph's phone and tossed it along with his own on to the counter. He grinned at her, picking her up carrying her into his room. "I wasn't getting out of it either way you know that." Ranger then went about turning Stephanie's scowl into smile.

~ O ~

As Ranger was leaving for his run, Steph rolled over after another exhausting night. "Please grab the right phone today." She called out when she heard the door open.

"It'll never happen again." He called back to her. She grinned at him and went back to sleep.

The End


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I never intended to continue this, but I got requests for more. All mistakes are my own, characters belong to Janet.

When Ranger got to work the next morning he wasn't surprised to see that he had a visitor in his office. He sat down at his desk, steeple his fingers together and looked at his mother.

"Good morning, Carlos." She greeted him knowing his preference for silence.

"Mama." Ranger wasn't going to give her anything; he already knew why she was here. And she wasn't getting it.

"I had to wait to see you."

"I wasn't in."

"Always working you need to slow down."

"Mama." Ranger tried to waylay her off topic.

"You should relax, maybe take Stephanie out." She gave him a pointed look. "Where is she?"

"Stephanie is working, Mama." Ranger looked at the clock and thought _if she's up_.

"You both work too hard," his mother admonished. "You should take a break, bring Stephanie to dinner tonight and I'll make dinner, you'll relax." His mother instructed rather invited.

"I don't know Mama." Ranger hedged.

Maria Manoso got up and kissed her son on his cheek, "I'll see you tonight." With that she turned and left without giving him a choice about accepting her invitation to dinner.

Ranger didn't think about his conversation with his mother until later, he had just gotten off of a surveillance shift.

"You up for Shorty's?" Tank asked as Ranger pulled back into Rangeman.

"Got plans." Ranger made his way into the elevator.

"Stephanie?" Tank assumed.

"Family dinner." Ranger grimaced.

"Have fun man." Tank clapped him on the back.

Twenty minutes later Ranger was pulling onto his parent's street.

Maria Manoso had prepared a feast in preparation for Stephanie's visit, she had to remind herself to calm down when she heard a car pull into the driveway. She peaked out the window trying to get a look at the mysterious Stephanie. What she saw instead was her son walking toward the door. Alone. She flung open the door and pointedly glanced about for Stephanie.

"Mama." Ranger greeted her.

"Where is Stephanie?" Maria asked her arms crossing over her bosom and blocking Ranger's way into the house.

"She already plans." Ranger leaned down and kissed his mother on the cheek.

His mother sighed and led the way into the house toward the delicious smelling meal. Throughout the meal Maria peppered her son with questions about Stephanie. Ranger gave short non-answers that left Maria frustrated and concerned for her son.

Maria was in the middle of serving dessert when Ranger's cell phone went off; his automatic reflex of reaching for it was halted at the look on his mother's face.

"No phones at the table." Maria reminded him of their long time rule. She allowed for him to check the caller ID in case it was a life threatening work emergency, but other than that meal time was meant for family.

Ranger read the caller ID and shoved the phone back in his pocket after silencing the call.

"Not important?" Maria pried.

"Stephanie." Ranger answered.

Maria was torn between her no cell phone rule and having missed the chance of getting to eavesdrop on her son's conversation with Stephanie.

"You'll call her back after dinner." Maria commended.

"I'll text her before I'll leave." Ranger agreed.

"No. A woman wants to hear a voice, not read messages." Maria disagreed.

Ranger remained silent.

Shortly after dessert Ranger took his leave.

Mateo Manoso, Maria's husband looked at his wife as their youngest left the house. She was grinning.

"What did you do?"

"What? I did nothing." Maria answered her cell phone in her hands.

Mateo discovered a long time ago, that it was impossible to get his wife to back down. He also found that it made for a happier household if he didn't interfere with his wife's schemes.

As her husband left to go get some work done in his office, Maria fingered the cell phone in her hands again. Thinking. Planning.

The phone rang. Maria looked at the caller ID which read BABE and realized she didn't think her plan through too well.

Ranger was almost to Stephanie's place when he pulled out his cell phone and hit speed dial.

"Hello."

Ranger froze with the phone to his ear; it was a man's voice that had answered. "Is Stephanie there?"

"I'm sorry but you have the wrong number." The click sounded off in Ranger's ear. He knew it wasn't a wrong number, her number was programmed into his phone, he can't dial wrong. Unless… Had something happened to her phone today? He dialed Rangeman.

"This is Rangeman."

"Report."

"Sir, the Hudgens surveillance team is still in place, all's quiet here."

"Stephanie?"

"On seven, sir."

Ranger had to stop himself from braking in the middle of the street. Instead he hung up and did a u-turn heading back towards Rangeman.

As Ranger walked through the door to his apartment he heard Stephanie talking to someone on her phone.

"Yeah, I guess that would work, but I would really have to talk to Ranger first." Stephanie was saying. "I don't…" Stephanie tried to say. "No, that sounds lovely, but…"

Ranger assumed it was her mother, and continued to his bedroom.

"Mrs. Manoso… Alright, Maria… it just seems that tomorrow seems soon." Stephanie hedged and Ranger froze. Ranger shot a look at Stephanie who shrugged her shoulders and pointed at the phone and then at him. Ranger took the phone from Stephanie and put it to his ear, "… it would be no problem and that way you'll know us when we see you at Ella's anniversary party."

"Mama."

"Oh. Carlos, you got home fast."

"How'd you get Stephanie's number?"

"She called me." Ranger lifted an eyebrow at Stephanie, who was looking a little worn out after talking to his mother.

"Bye Mama."

"See you tomorrow." Maria answered and hung the phone.

"Babe?" Ranger asked as he handed her back her phone.

"I called you and _she_ answered. I thought maybe I had your phone again, but it says I called you."

Ranger closed his eyes and grabbed his phone. He looked at the last number he dialed; it was his parent's number. He scrolled through the phone book not surprised to see the names of his mother's friends.

"What is it Batman?" Stephanie asked as she looked over his shoulder.

"She switched phones with me."

"Who did? Your mother?" Stephanie couldn't help the grin that spilt her face. "Your mother out-sneaked you? Why?"

"When we got in trouble as kids, she would punish us by taking away our phone privileges. I guess she decided that I'm not too old for her to discipline."

"What are you in trouble for?"

"I was told to bring you to dinner tonight."

Stephanie's response was to burst into laughter.

Stephanie woke up in the softest sheets, pulling the covers up; she rolled into Ranger's spot. Well she would have had it not been occupied by the man himself.

"What are you still doing here?" Steph asked as she sat up to get a glance at the clock.

"Babe, today is going to be one of those days."

"Does this have something to do with dinner at your mother's house? We don't have to go."

"She's only going to keep at it until I bring you and I need my phone."

"Not going to get much work done without your phone."

Despite the early hour Steph decided to get up and start her day, her first stop was to the Bond's Office.

"Girl you up early."

"Got plans tonight I have to make time."

"Batman taking you out?"

"Yep." Steph replied with a grim, remembering her conversation with Maria.

"Sorry Steph, no one new today." Connie told her as she picked through a box of donuts.

"Okay, just dropping off receipts then."

While Steph was on her way back to Rangeman, Ranger tried to get work done without worrying about the fiasco dinner was going to be.

"Carlos."

Ranger was sure he was in a nightmare, "Mama."

"I never did get a definite answer regarding tonight, I will not be cooking up another feast for no reason."

"We'll be there Mama."

"Oh good, so…" Maria lingered looking around the office.

"Did you bring my phone Mama?"

"Oh no, I knew I forgot something. You can just get it tonight, with Stephanie." Ranger understood his mother's unveiled threat, if Stephanie wasn't at dinner he wasn't getting his phone.

Ranger stood up to escort his mother back to her car when the soft rumble on the floor started indicating that Stephanie had arrived.

"Hey there Beautiful." Lester was greeting her as they made their way to the elevator.

"Santos, got some searches for me to do. No one is skipping."

"Sure thing beautiful, I'll pawn my work off on to you." The two of them went off to her cubicle laughing.

Ranger saw his mother to her car, where she began mentally planning the meal she was going to make.

"So who was that?" Stephanie asked Lester.

"Who?"

"With Ranger, was that a client?"

Lester grinned deviously, "No that was Aunt Maria, his mother." Lester walked away laughing from a paler Stephanie.

Ranger finished up working and headed up to seven where Stephanie was already tearing through the clothes she had in the closet looking for something to wear.

"Babe, it's nothing fancy. Grab a sweater and jeans and let's go." Ranger picked a sweater out of the pile and handed it to her, "This one."

Steph fussed some more with her outfit before declaring herself presentable to meet his parents.

On the way to the Manoso's home, Steph broke the silence.

"I saw your mom today; did she give you back your phone?"

"She stopped by to give me an ultimatum, either I bring you to dinner or I don't get my phone."

"I'm nervous."

"Me too."

"You?"

"The last time I brought a girl home, I had to tell my parents she was pregnant."

"Oh, well at least I can't mess this up then. I feel better."

"Glad you do."

"Oh come on Ranger, as long as she serves dessert we'll like each other."

Ranger didn't say anything as he pulled up to his parents' house.

"Ranger, there will be dessert, right?" Stephanie asked him again as she got of the car to get a smile out of him. It worked.

"Of course."

Ranger took a deep breath as the door swung open without him having to knock.

"Mama."

"Oh you must be Stephanie, hello, hello please come in." Maria took Stephanie's arm and guided her into the house.

"She's a looker." Mateo commented as the women walked away.

"Papa," Ranger shook hands with his father, "how many did she invite?"

"It's just the four of us." Ranger raised an eyebrow.

"Are you gentlemen coming? Dinner is on the table." Maria poked her head around the corner.

"Coming."

Ranger smiled as Stephanie was enjoying dessert, dinner wasn't as bad as he had feared. Of course his mother had asked some embarrassing questions but Steph just took a mouthful of food leaving him to answer the tough questions.

"Maria dinner was divine, thank you for inviting me."

"Oh it was my pleasure; I hope I will be seeing more of you, dear."

"Mama, we should be heading out, thank you again for dinner."

"Well we'll see you both at Ella and Luis's anniversary party then." Maria turned and pulled Ranger's phone out of the side table. "I'll be in touch with the details."

Ranger took the phone and guided Steph out to the car.

"We survived."


End file.
